"Blind Man" is a song by American

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a heavier subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and Distortion (music), distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the Garage rock, garage, Psychedelic rock, psychedelic and blues ...

band

Aerosmith Aerosmith is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Boston in 1970. The group consists of lead vocalist Steven Tyler, bassist Tom Hamilton (musician), Tom Hamilton, drummer Joey Kramer, and guitarists Joe Perry (musician), Joe Perry and B ...

. The song was written by

Steven Tyler Steven Victor Tallarico (born March 26, 1948), known professionally as Steven Tyler, is an American singer and songwriter. Tyler is best known as the lead singer of the Boston-based rock band Aerosmith, in which he also plays the keyboards, h ...

, Joe Perry, and Taylor Rhodes. It was first released as a single in the United Kingdom on October 24, 1994, as a

double A-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of vinyl records and cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a single usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or ...

with "

Crazy Insanity, madness, lunacy, and craziness are behaviors caused by certain abnormal mental or behavioral patterns. Insanity can manifest as violations of societal norms, including a person or persons becoming a danger to themselves or to other ...

", then was issued in the United States by itself the following month. "Blind Man" served as the first single from Aerosmith's Geffen-era compilation album, '' Big Ones'', one of three songs from the record not previously released on any Aerosmith studio album. Despite the song's moderate success, reaching the top 10 in Canada, Finland, and Norway, the band rarely performed it live after the 1993–1994

Get a Grip Tour The Get a Grip Tour was a concert tour by American hard rock band Aerosmith that lasted over eighteen months, from early June 1993 to mid-December 1994. The tour was put on in support of the band's third consecutive multi-platinum album ''Get a G ...

. The accompanying music video was directed by

Marty Callner Martin Henry Callner (August 25, 1946 – March 17, 2025) was an American director who made music videos, comedy specials, concert specials and television shows. He was the creator of HBO's '' Hard Knocks'', and was nominated for numerous Prim ...

, featuring a cameo by

Pamela Anderson Pamela Denise Anderson (born July 1, 1967) is a Canadian-American actress, model and media personality. She rose to prominence after being selected as the February 1990 ''Playboy'' Playmate of the Month. She went on to make regular appearan ...

Recording

The song was recorded in two separate sessions. The first session took place at

Power Station A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the electricity generation, generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electr ...

, New York City in April 1994, and was engineered by Adam Kasper with second engineering by Chris Albert. The second session took place at Capri Digital Studios,

Capri Capri ( , ; ) is an island located in the Tyrrhenian Sea off the Sorrento Peninsula, on the south side of the Gulf of Naples in the Campania region of Italy. A popular resort destination since the time of the Roman Republic, its natural beauty ...

, Italy in June, and was also engineered by Adam Kasper, but the second engineer on that session was Max Carola.

Critical reception

Larry Flick Larry Flick is an American journalist, former dance music columnist, single reviewer, and Senior Talent Editor for ''Billboard'' magazine, where he worked for 14 years. Now he produces and hosts Sirius XM radio shows. Flick started in the musi ...

from ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' magazine wrote, "Eternally popular band offers a killer new track from its upcoming greates hits compilation '' Big Ones''. Fans of recent hits like '

' and ' Amazing' will feast on this jam's delicious recipe of bluesy guitar riffs, grinding rock-ballad rhythms, and Steven Tyler's incomparable vocals. A bright sales and chart future appears more than likely." A reviewer from ''

Music & Media ''Music & Media'' was a pan-European magazine for radio, music and entertainment. It was published for the first time in 1984 as ''Eurotipsheet'', but in 1986 it changed name to ''Music & Media''. It was originally based in Amsterdam, but later m ...

'' commented, "A swollen ballad? Nothing new, huh? The novelty here is the fact that for the first time in a decade it isn't produced by Bruce Fairbairn, but by a man mostly active in

alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

Music video

The music video for the song was also one of the only songs from Aerosmith's Geffen era not released on the video collection '' Big Ones You Can Look At''. The live performance portions of the video were filmed during the day at The Summit in

Houston, Texas Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

before Aerosmith's performance there on September 30, 1994. The video was directed by American director

, and featured cameo appearances by

and A&R man John Kalodner. In 2009, drummer Joey Kramer admitted on '' That Metal Show'' that this is his least favorite Aerosmith video.

Track listing

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Release history

References

{{authority control Aerosmith songs 1994 singles Music videos directed by Marty Callner Songs written by Steven Tyler Songs written by Joe Perry (musician) Songs written by Taylor Rhodes Geffen Records singles 1994 songs Song recordings produced by Michael Beinhorn